1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an all terrain vehicle, and more specifically, to an all terrain vehicle including a battery and an air cleaner mounted rearward relative to an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
One conventional type of an all terrain vehicle described in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 59-170018 has the following arrangement of an air cleaner and a battery. The battery is provided at the center or the vicinity thereof in a forward-rearward direction of a body frame, and an air cleaner is provided rearward relative to the battery. An engine mounted in a front portion of the body frame and the air cleaner are operatively connected with each other via an intake duct.
When providing an exhaust system for the engine, it is necessary to prevent the temperature of air supplied to the engine or the temperature of the battery from being excessively increased by the heat of exhaust gas flowing in an exhaust passage. When the temperature of the air is excessively increased, the charging efficiency is reduced. When the temperature of the battery is excessively increased, the life of the battery is shortened.
In the above-described conventional all terrain vehicle, such problems caused by the heat are considered to be avoided because the exhaust pipe is arranged to pass below a crank case of the engine.
However, in the above-described structure where the exhaust pipe is arranged to pass below the crank case of the engine as in the conventional all terrain vehicle, the distance from the ground surface, i.e., the so-called the minimum ground clearance, is reduced. As a result, the exhaust pipe may be damaged by protrusions on the ground. Especially for an all terrain vehicle, which often runs on the ground with many protrusions, it is desirable to obtain a maximum possible distance from the ground.